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THIS TOWN AIN'T BIG ENOUGH FOR THE BOTH OF US | 18 Years

On this day in 1997 Faith No More released their collaboration single with Sparks, This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us.

The Song

Bill Gould | 1997 | Kerrang!

"They found out that we're fans of theirs, and
have asked us to appear on their next album. That's just f**king amazing. Sparks were the first really
campy operatic-type band. I always thought Queen ripped them off."

The original version of the song was featured on the 1974 album Kimono In My House and was the lead single from the album, reaching number 2 in
the UK singles chart.

Russell Mael | 2006

"This
Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both of Us” was so atypical of the time. It wasn’t
your usual verse-chorus-verse song. We’re proud of that fact. A lot of bands
seem to enjoy the status quo of things, but we’ve always gone for the more
provocative approach. “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both of Us” tries to
challenge the listener, to show what pop music is capable of. We did try and
recruit Brian May around that time. We met up a few times, just before Queen
had really broken through in the States. We were looking for a guitar player
for Sparks and he gave it some thought. He was ruminating on it, but it wasn’t
to be."

Sparks' 1997 album Plagiarism included two collaborations
with FNM – This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us and Something for the Girl with Everything.

Faith No More spreads the gospel. They teamed with the Maels
in 1997 to record an updated version of Sparks' breakthrough single, This Town
Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us, a hard rock epic about gunfight movie
tropes.

“We’re both real oddball outfits — and we like to push
buttons,” says Faith No More keyboardist, Roddy Bottum, via e-mail. “I get the
sense that Sparks put a lot of thought into their presentation and how they
come across. Faith No More does too. We started employing ways to (mess) with
our audience early on."

Bottum's gateway to Sparks was "This Town." He and
bassist Billy Gould have been hooked since they were kids. In 1975, they first
heard the song on “American Bandstand.”

“We were smitten,” says Bottum. “We rode our bikes up to the
weirdo record store and inquired within. There was an ambiguous Bowie type
rocker with earrings and colored hair who we were able to confide in. It kind
of changed our lives.”

Bottum says that one of his career highlights was meeting
Ron and Russell for the first time.

“We all happened to be in Munich at one point,” he explains.
“We met the brothers Mael at a cafe that looked out on an equestrian center
that schooled young teenage girls, their choice.”

Live Performances

FNM have been joined onstage by Sparks to perform the song on two definite occasions, Brixton Academy 29.11.1997 and Hollywood Palladium 01.12.2010. The later performance also featured Dean Menta on guitar who since leaving FNM has been performing and
recording with Sparks. Sparks albums that he has
contributed to include Plagiarism (1997) Lil' Beethoven (2002) Hello Young
Lovers (2006) Exotic Creatures of the Deep (2008) and The Seduction of
Ingmar Bergman (2009).